Google Home Max hits stores today, yours for $399

An alternative to Apple and Sonos

Google’s early October press event will largely be remembered as the launching pad for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones but that wasn’t the only new hardware to break cover that day. We also laid eyes on the Google Home Max, a supersized version of Google’s smart home speaker designed to compete with other high-end stereo speakers from companies like Apple and Sonos.

Google Home Max is offered in your choice of chalk or charcoal (white or black) color schemes. It features dual 0.7-inch tweeters in addition to two 4.5-inch woofers, all housed within a rigid chassis to “keep the audio composed.”

Google Home Max utilizes machine learning to automatically adjust equalizer settings based on the acoustics of your room. This, Google says, will give the speaker a balanced sound regardless of where you place it. If you’re like me and could spend hours tweaking equalizer settings to no avail, this will be a welcome feature.

Google Home Max is available as of writing from the Google Store, Best Buy, Walmart and Verizon. At $399, it’s a bit more expensive than Apple’s HomePod ($349 but delayed until early next year) and the Sonos One speaker that starts at $199 but perhaps it’s worth it once you hear it in person?

If you’re looking to save a few bucks, have a look at the much more affordable Google Home Mini (now just $29) or even the standard-size Google Home which can be yours for $79.